Locks and Key
by Nerumi H
Summary: The prince has come to rescue Gumi from her tower—only, there's another prince waiting for this mocking, inelegant princess. Who gets to take her home? And...how do they even get her down in the first place? Dell/Gumi/Yuuma


.title.:** Locks and Key**

.summary.: **The prince has come to rescue Gumi from her tower—only, there's ****_another _****prince waiting for this mocking, inelegant princess. Who gets to take her home? And...how do they even get her down in the first place?**

.characters.: **Honne Dell – Gumi – VY2 Yuuma (not too shippy, but leans more towards Gumi/Yuuma, if anything)**

.warnings.: **Cursing and modern dialogue in a medieval fic oops.**

.a/n.: **I like the Rapunzel story. A lot. Even when it isn't the Tangled version, yes. And what else do I love? This OT3. All my favourite characters together!**

**I HATE TITLES AND FOUND IT ON SOME RAPUNZEL PUN SITE OKAY /DEATH**

**Enjoy! Read and review, please, please, please?**

**X**

Dell seriously did not have time for this.

He'd spent days, _days_, hunting down this fabled secluded tower in the mountains, and when he'd finally gotten there (exhausted, bruised, princely armor reduced to a blacksmith's worse product, and stung in way too many places), what was waiting for him but yet another prince standing at the foot of the tower? He didn't recognise him, but the velvet cape and silver armor (suspiciously unscathed even though this place was extremely deep in the wilderness) told Dell that he was of the same rank as him, and the way he was posted, gazing up at the tower importantly, said he was here for the same reason, too.

A voice shrilly cut through the clearing, rebounding on the ghastly dark shelves of mountains around the tower. The cliffs of stone were the only things taller than it, and Dell craned his neck painfully to look up at the small dark window at the very top. The other man did the same.

"Look at that! It's my lucky day! Another prince!"

The 'first' prince whirled around in realisation and pegged Dell with an alarmed stare, to which Dell returned a dangerous scowl. He had bright pink hair, sun-coloured eyes, and few cuts over his face from what Dell assumed to be caused by the forest of clawed trees that Dell had just passed through (and fared much worse in).

"Wow! Who put my name in the hat? This is great!" the voice inside the tower crooned.

Dell approached the other warily, if only to get closer to the tower to assess it. He knew a princess was in there—a lost one, an important one, and there was constant talk about her in his kingdom, until one day he'd had enough and said he'd search for her and bring her home. They were worried about her state, even though to some people, her existence was mere myth. It seemed to be real, though, although mystical—a girl locked away in a hidden tower, quixotically beautiful, eighteen years worth of glossy hair and naiveté imprisoned with her.

"Prince Yuuma of Yamaha," the other man announced to Dell, and even had the audacity to drop in a slight bow. Ignoring, Dell folded his arms and glared up the enormous stone tower. It was made of dark rock and overgrown with ivy, but the plants were thin and wispy, the stone smooth with rain and wind's wear. A small figure had popped out the window—he could just make out a head of curly hair the colour of the greenery that surrounded her, and wide bemused eyes.

"Hey, who're you, Other Prince?" she yelled.

Dell grit his teeth and answered as loudly as he could, "Prince Dell of the Voyak kingdom."

"Huhhh?"

"...Prince Dell of the Voyak kingdom!"

"I didn't heaaaar you!"

The other prince, Yuuma, spoke in a hushed tone to Dell. "She did the same to me. Refer to her with a title like 'princess' or 'your highness.'"

Dell fired him a much more obvious growl this time. He didn't need to be taking any pointers from him—especially not when they both wanted the same thing, and wouldn't be able to share her. He angled his head back up, cupped a gloved hand around his mouth, and yelled against his raw throat, "Prince Dell of the Voyak kingdom, your _highness!"_

"Just call me Gumi." A loud, inelegant laugh. "I've never heard of that place, Dell! Yuuma's from Yamaha. I don't know that place either."

Yuuma cleared his throat and called breezily, "I assume we're both here to help you, princess."

"Oh, yeah! That's what Yuuma and me were talking about before you came here, Dell of Moyak."

"Voyak."

"Whatever. I was gonna come down for _him_, but now, things are more complicated!"

Dell raised an eyebrow, and the girl emitted another bright laugh. Yuuma pushed forwards a step, his hand resting on the handle of his sword in its sheath.

Puzzled, Yuuma called to her, "Complicated, princess?"

"Yeah! I can't come down for _two_ princes. That's slutty."

Dell scoffed. "Are you going to stay up there, then?"

Dozens of meters overhead, the girl folded her arms on the windowsill and grinned. "Whaaaat?"

"Are you going to stay there, _your highness!"_

"Who's a highness?"

Yuuma spoke patiently before Dell could yell back. "My liege, what do you think we should do?"

"Oh, I dunno. What do you think?" Twirling a strand of her hair through her hands (although they were so far away it only looked like she was crocheting a vine or something), the girl hummed a little tune for them to hear. She didn't speak for many moments, so the pink-haired prince made a suggestion in her place.

"Do you want us to—uhm, battle?"

Dell resisted the urge to groan. This guy may have only had to cross a river, but Dell had been travelling _forever_. He really was not in the mood for a swordfight. If he was, he probably would have slain this rival prince already.

Gumi's song broke away into another vociferous laugh. "No way! What if one of you ends up dead or something? Then I gotta clean it up. Or, like, whisper to the deers to eat your corpse, because I think there was this rumor going around that I could do that." Her white skin captured more of the light as she leaned further out her window, that mocking smile glimmering at the pair of them. "What else you got?"

Admittedly thankful that the swordfight idea had been trashed, Dell was unable to come up with any other ideas. In all honesty, he'd taken this mission without much thought. She was a rumour so there had been the very realistic risk that she didn't even exist but he was wasting all his time and blood for her, but here she was, and he was only met with more questions. How did she get up there? Why was she so famous? Who took care of her? Why was she so coveted? If Yuuma's kingdom wanted her, too... He cleared his throat and watched her tilt her head all the way up there in the tower window.

"I'd say you have a sing-off, but we're kind of far away from each other."

Yuuma suggested, "What about poetry?"

Dell was once again ready to adamantly protest but Gumi shot it down for him. "Bah, poetry's boring." She waved a hand and Dell thought he could see the pink of her tongue as she stuck it out at them. "Y'know, you guys, you are totally losing for being so uncreative. Maybe I'll just go back inside and you boys can find your way home, huh?"

She began to idly retreat, and like she had the two of them connected to her by strings, both men jerked forwards to stop her. Dell's shoulder crashed into the much-taller Yuuma's arm, and he jolted away as soon as he caught his balance again.

"Princess!" Yuuma was yelling, desperate.

The girl had vanished but her voice was just as piercing and jesting as before. "Princess? I'm not a princess."

"Your loveliness!"

"Unless I'm the princess of awesome hair or squirrels or something. Did they tell you I was a princess? That's actually really cool. Is that why you're here, for my money? I only have robin's eggs, guys."

"Your preciousness!"

"Robin's eggs!"

Dell actually groaned this time while Yuuma continued to yell, oblivious to how she was making fun of him.

"Your—exquisiteness!"

Gumi's head popped up again from the side of the window. "Yeehhh-sss?"

"I'm here to save you from your curse, not for your money."

Both Dell and Gumi quizzically echoed, "Curse?"

"Yes. You're hidden from the world; surely it is a curse to be so close to freedom, yet unable to step over the threshold?"

Oh my fuck. Sap.

Gumi's frown was visible, not to mention audible, and tainted with snit. "Dude, do you see how far away you are? Unless you can make me a ladder or strategically plant a tree, I still can't get down!"

"There—..." Yuuma's face pinched as his knowledge and ideas collided together at the hand of her words. Dell's thoughts were doing the same—oh god, how did he not think of _that?_—but he was at least keeping quiet about it. He rocked on his heels, scowling, and considering turning back right now.

Yuuma spat out, "There was a witch, wasn't there? If you could let down your hair and I could climb up and—"

"Oh, OUCH! Buddy! Did you think that through at _all?_ Hair is attached to my head, you know." She propped her chin on her open palms. "And how would _you _get down, then?"

Yuuma took on the look of someone completely lost, and it was bad enough to even make Dell feel slightly empathetic. "...Oh."

"Sorry. There's a secret to getting me down, but you gotta figure it out. Myths lie."

Yuuma pushed back his hair, lips pressed together and eyebrows slanted. He was confused, that much Dell could read—confused and awfully disenchanted. Well. Not like Dell had heard any rumours that were all that true, either. There had been one floating around that she was completely made of lilypads, but he very much doubted that one was accurate.

Dell yelled up the tower, "Then give him a hint, would you, princess?"

"I don't know a princess." She looked around behind her. "No princesses here."

"Oh, for...Jeez. Your—_perfection!"_

"Huhhh?

"Gumi, come the fuck on!"

"Still can't heaaar you!"

"GIVE HIM A FUCKING CLUE, YOUR SCINTILATTING FUCKING GLORIOUSNESS!"

Gumi erupted into laughter, reminding him of an evil little sister of sorts. Or maybe a witch. "Just _him?_ _You_ don't want a hint?"

He said it without thinking, "Honestly, I think you're too annoying to save!"

And he didn't regret it at all. She smacked a palm against her head, Yuuma shot him an astonished look, and he just folded his arms and glared at her until she was done her melodramatic mockery.

"Okay, fine! I don't have any paper for airplanes or anything so I guess you can eavesdrop. Yuuma!" The man in question obediently looked up. She held her hands to her mouth, leaning forwards so far it looked like she was about to topple out—"YOU TWO HAVE TO KISS!"

Dell nearly choked and Yuuma exclaimed a breathy, "Really?"

A vicious, white grin split Gumi's face, fangs practically visible from down on the ground. "Yep! Takes the curse right off! A magical flight of stairs appears out of my awesome hair and leads me right down like Cinderella at the ball."

Feeling Yuuma's gaze on him, Dell reluctantly looked over. The taller prince offered him only a shrug and a crooked smile, and it occurred to Dell that Yuuma still believed her even after her ridiculous explanation. He threw back his head and groaned.

"Yuuma, she's shitting with you!"

"But—"

He raised an eyebrow pointedly. "Magical flight of stairs?"

It dawned on him finally, or maybe he just shunned the idea because Dell was so against it—Yuuma blushed slightly while taking a few steps away. "...Yeah."

Gumi shrieked a single burst of irritation. "Ruin my fun, much, Deru?"

"Dell."

"Deru."

"Give us the honest clue now."

"Hmmm!" Gumi put her hands on both sides of her face, squishing her cheeks together and saying a muffled, "Nah."

"Gumi!" Dell snarled just as Yuuma pleaded, "Gumi, please? We just want to help you."

Her arms dropped, slinging boneless over the stone entryway. "Who said I don't like it up here?"

"Well..."

"Okay, true, _I _said it. I'll admit it, you tyrants!" she snapped. "I hate it up here, I really do."

She began to play with a wave of her hair again, the white modest dress coming more into view as she slumped on the windowsill like a ragdoll. "Good boys, coming to find me. Really makes a girl feel loved, you know, especially when there are _two _handsome bachelors that show up on her doorstep! Thing is, the doorstep is kind of far away." Her back arched with a sigh, arms covering her head. "So, no, there isn't a clue. Unless you wanna, like, call some giant eagles."

Dell watched Yuuma's face tip open into a pitifully wounded expression that he shone up to her limp form. Dell wanted to blame her for guilting them and tricking them again, but he wasn't sure he could.

Whatever. He didn't even want her that bad anymore, so he may as well just turn tail and leave. Get home and get the rest he deserved from dealing with this crap. What use would she be to the kingdom, anyways? She probably knew nothing, having been locked up in that castle for who-knew-how-long—well, long enough to start some rumours, and to gain the ability to be so dense, she made fun of anyone trying to save her.

Yuuma called, "Well—Gumi, if this part isn't false too, let down your hair. I'll climb up."

Her face peered up from the fortress of her arms and angsting. "Didn't you hear me? You're gonna be stuck up here, too! I mean, you're probably cute, but it's sort of boring and cramped up here. Go be a prince somewhere else." She pointed at Dell without looking his way. "You too, Grumpy."

"Hey—!"

Yuuma said, "It's alright. I can probably climb back down."

Gumi continued to stare flatly at him.

"I can _definitely _climb back down. It's okay." Yuuma's smile was small and Dell doubted she could even see it, but his voice was so disgustingly earnest that surely she must have _heard_ it.

"Actually?"

"Yeah. Gumi, let down your hair!"

"Ohhh-kay, buddy..." Gumi vanished for a moment, and Yuuma was waiting in a way that made Dell wonder if he was even breathing, a self-satisfied expression gracing his face. Gumi emanated a muffled ecstasy cry of, "Here you go, prince!" and in a flash of her white arm, a long trail of emerald hair came soaring from the tower window. It flew through the air to where they were posted, flawless and vibrant, looking as strong as rope and surely bound by magic to have grown so much and be so beautiful—then it hit the ground with a _whump_ and piled into a heap of hair and leaves and a few unfortunate bugs that were caught in the flying weaponry.

Dell looked at it, then up, then back down. It wasn't attached to her, unless she was hiding somewhere under that pile. Yuuma was having the same reaction.

She yelled from over their heads, "Whoops, I cut it yesterday!"

Yuuma looked like someone had just kicked his hopes and dreams in the ass, then strangled them with that very heap of severed hair.

Dell snarled and glared up at her, where she toyed with the shoulder-length hair she'd so expertly hidden beforehand. "Well, what now?"

"I dunno. You guys, it's way sweet that you came here, but there's not much you can do. You can maybe throw that hair back up, though, I was planning on knitting a few pillows—"

Head suddenly up and his eyes wide, Yuuma hollered, "Jump!"

Gumi was the one to look shocked this time. "What? Who?"

He stumbled back a few steps as Dell watched with a cocked eyebrow, not taking his gold eyes off of her. "Princess, your ornate rarity, magnificence, exquisiteness—"

"Horrible bitchiness," Dell supplied.

"—Gumi, how about you _jump?_"

"Do you see that fall, Yuuma? !" Gumi exclaimed, gripping the edges of the stone as she threw her torso precariously forwards, eyes wide. "No way!"

"Surely you can't be afraid of heights!" he answered, almost laughing. Dell rolled his eyes at all of this—wouldn't she get hurt? Yuuma didn't look like he possessed even half the strength required to catch her from so high up, but damn it, did he look willing to try.

"Uh, true, but seriously?"

"Seriously."

She pulled herself back inside the tower, obviously wary—it was a look on her that Dell just realised he was never expecting to see on this maybe-somewhat princess. The side of her head just flickered in and out of view as she looked around, as if threatened.

"I promise, I'll catch you!"

"Really promise?" she said, still half-hidden. "Because if you lie you'll turn into a bird, or, uhm, something."

"I swear it, princess."

Dell rolled his eyes again.

A moment passed, where the sun shone obliviously bright on this scene, the flocks soared over the sky like blue and yellow clouds, and Dell realised he was actually kind of hungry. Then her voice chimed out as loudly as it had when he'd first arrived: "I—Deru, stand by him! Over my hair, just in case."

What? Oh, no. No, no, _no_. Nope. He was not risking his...everything just for this girl to throw herself out a window like she was hoping to grow wings. But as he was trying to back out, Yuuma had his arms out and was moving in too close to him, even nudging Dell to get the exact fraction away from the window that he thought would be right.

No, no, no way! He'd been planning on way-too-easily saving her and maybe slaying something, not catching her like something knocked from the sky! He stepped back and away just as—

"AHHHHH!"

For once she didn't even have something to say, it was just a terrified yet excited scream, and Dell saw her, a white and green blur soaring from the window as he gave in and rushed back to Yuuma, both their eyes on her as she flew—she didn't freeze in time nor did he feel the potent bubble of her ecstatic emotions, no, all he felt was her body crashing into him and slamming him into the ground like an avalanche.

He tried his hardest to swear loudly but all that came out was a moan and a whine.

Gumi scrambled off of him; on her feet she stumbled once, arms pinwheeling a bit as she grappled for her balance. Yuuma snatched her hand before she could fall.

Dell groaned, pulling himself up off the ground.

The girl was actually quite pretty, but that wasn't what he was concentrating on right now. He could only see her enormous breathless grin and hear her laugh, "Oops, I missed you, Yuuma!"

He wanted to punch her in the face but was having too much trouble catching his breath.

Yuuma crouched down next to him, slipping an arm around his back, and bringing him to his feet with a gentle patience that Dell immediately detested. The princess flattened her palm and set it above her eyes to shield the sun, tilting her whole body back in order to get a good look at the window they'd been yelling at her from for the past while.

The grin faltered slightly, and she whispered, "Well, wow."

"You're alright?"

He thought at first that Yuuma was direction the inquiry at Gumi, but then he realised the other prince had his face turned towards—and a little too close to—Dell. He shouldered him off and muttered hastily, "Yeah, yeah," and then the two of them angled their attention to the object that had brought them all here together in this mess in the first place. Gumi beamed over her shoulder at them, swinging the skirt of her dress, toes curling into the grass that grew so freshly around her.

"So, we still have to figure one last thing out."

"What?" Dell grumbled. "How many of my ribs you broke?"

She barked a laugh, blue eyes shimmering with something that could only be described as mischief. "Nope. Which prince gets to bring me home. Didn't someone suggest a sing-off~?"


End file.
